Meghan Brakhane, a 2016 Edwardsville High School graduate, was inducted on Aug. 12 as one of the 2017 Golden Apple Scholars, a group of 234 aspiring teachers who have dedicated themselves to teaching in an Illinois school-of-need for five years after graduation.

The Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois is a scholarship program that identifies talented high school seniors and first and second-year college students who have the promise and drive to be excellent teachers in high-need schools.

Since the program’s inception in 1989, the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program has grown to nearly 2,000 statewide participants. The program is uniquely designed to prepare future teachers to thrive in the most challenging high-needs school environments where more resilient teachers are desperately needed.

According to a news release, “The program provides tuition assistance to each future teacher while they pursue an undergraduate education. Beginning the summer after high school graduation and continuing throughout their undergraduate years, scholars benefit from multiple teaching internships, ongoing academic and career mentoring and course work on the art of teaching delivered by Golden Apple Award-winning teachers. When Scholars complete the program, they have acquired more than two times the classroom teaching experience garnered by traditionally-prepared teachers. Golden Apple continues to support scholars after they begin their teaching careers through ongoing mentoring and professional development. In return for the financial, academic, and professional development support that Golden Apple provides, scholars agree to teach in a school-of-need in Illinois for five years following college graduation.”

Brakhane, an Edwardsville resident, currently attends SIUE where she’s pursuing a degree in education. “I have always loved working with kids and I love seeing their enthusiasm when they learn something new,” she said about her passion for teaching. “I teach the first grade Sunday School at my church, and I enjoy finding ways to get the kids involved with the lesson.”

She elaborated about her interest in teaching in a high-needs school. “I want to be able to help children receive the education they deserve, and I think the skills that I have will be right for the job.”

Other 2017 Golden Apple Scholars from the area include Samuel Frosch from Alton, Paige Philpott from Collinsville, Tessa Kleinschmidt and Morgan Thompson from Troy, and Claire Gorman from Godfrey.

“We congratulate the class of 2017 Golden Apple Scholars as they embark on an exciting journey to become exceptional teachers and improve the educational outcomes for students in challenging school settings in Illinois,” Dominic Belmonte, Golden Apple CEO said. “The intensive mentoring, with its focus in the classroom, uniquely prepares aspiring teachers to handle the many real-world challenges of teaching in high-need schools. As a result, Golden Apple Scholars are prepared to not only do the job with resilience but to excel at it.”

“The scholars program has been proven to profoundly improve persistence and graduation rates among participants,” the release further states. “In addition, the program has been shown to have a significant impact on workforce development by helping low-income and underrepresented students gain necessary skill development for a lasting career in teaching." Evidence of the success of the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program includes:

• More than 1,000 Golden Apple Scholars are now teaching in more than 500 schools-of-need in Illinois.

• More than 650,000 students in Illinois have been taught by Golden Apple Scholars since 1989.

The 2017 class of scholars represents a diverse group of young people from across the state of Illinois with nearly half as first-generation college students, who are the first in the families to attend a four-year college, and nearly half are from underrepresented groups.